07 July 2009

Dietitian Humor

I think this is very fitting after a long discussion with someone that has been working out in CrossFit with me these past two months. She continues to focus on the scale and says sees herself in the mirror as being too big. But she is only 16% body fat. She looks great! Our short statures and strong muscles make us both appear bigger than models in magazines. I learned long ago that since I didn't have tall slender parents I'll never look like that 0.001% of the population (and I don't know how to airbrush my pictures).

We talked about perceptions of beauty through the past century, pop culture influences on women, and what men really find sexy (muscles and curves are still top of the list for most men I poll). Then I explained it in terms of health. 16% body fat for a woman is inside of the "athletic" range. I think she is starting to see that the mirror is lying to her (she is NOT fat) and that the scale is not the best judgement for her health (her strength and how her clothing fits is a better indicator).